Thailand launches 24-hour hotline over misbehaving Buddhist monks

BANGKOK (AFP) - Misbehaving monks face censure after Thai religious authorities said they had launched a 24-hour hotline for the public to report unruly acts by Buddhist monks.

The move follows a cascade of high-profile scandals ranging from reports of monks taking drugs and drinking, to a case in May of five defrocked abbots charged with sexually abusing boys.

The National Office of Buddhism (NOB) said the idea for a hotline emerged after Thailand's coup-making General Prayut Chan-O-Cha expressed concern over the image of Buddhism, a religion that counts an estimated 95 per cent of its 67 million population as devotees.

"We have already set up a hotline to receive complaints from people if they see anything that endangers our religion," the office's Napparat Benjawattananant told AFP on Wednesday.